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Topic: Druids Heath and The Maypole (Read 27188 times)

Hi there, this is my 1st post in the forum so here goes, I'm after some memories and if possible any pictures of the Druids Heath And Maypole Area, Part of my childhood was in Druids heath and i would love to hear from anyone else that could share their memories, stories or pictures, Its an area not well covered in books of Brum, King's heath and King's Norton being well covered with notable books. I will post up some of my photos i have taken fairly recently, I have seen the wonderful posts and pictures covering King's heath and hopefully we can share some too covering Druids Heath as well. Many thanks

Welcome to the forum, I've sorted a few photos of the Maypole & Druids Heath for you. Some of them may be before your time and a little hard to place, but the location of each photo is at the bottom of the frame.

Phil--Thats brilliant--Thank you very much! i shall pour over these great photos, most fascinating is the Bells Farm Prefab pictures, i have an aerial shot of the Estate taken by the RAF in 1945, Again Phil Many thanks

I'm after some memories and if possible any pictures of the Druids Heath And Maypole Area.......... Its an area not well covered in books of Brum

You don't have to go out as far as Druids Heath to encounter this problem; some areas simply never had much to interest the photographer (who'll probably be looking for the unusual) so they get passed by, which is a shame for anyone that actually lived there.

My family used to own some land just down the road in Broad Lane, but I've yet to see any photo's taken in Broad Lane, even though parts of it were incredibly photogenic when I was a kid (it had a stretch of largely self-sufficient homesteads that looked about 100 years out of time even in those days).

I agree Planetmalc, It seems we dont record what appears to be ordinary mundane things, only when we look back to our memories do we regret or lose the ability of recall. With Druids Heath and the Maypole ordinarily appears dull, but it still an area of interest: Druids Heath ( possibly derived from Drews, and romanticised to Druids ) was part of the large Parish of King's Norton under the diocese of Worcester Cathedral. Walkers Heath, Druids Heath, Kings heath and [censored] Moor were Crown lands heavily wooded with Farms dotted about, sparsely populated. These Lands were rented out to freeman tenants and developed accordingly, The only ancient fixture of the area was Icknield Street, which now runs along walkers Heath Rd, Lifford Lane and onto The Pershore Rd. Historically the area was very quiet with no major event noticable. The Druids Heath area was farmland controlled by Monyhull and Bells Farm--later this farm was incorporated into the Hospital Colony, later some of the area was made into a golf course bisected by The Chinn Brook. there was no manor house in the area, Bells farm was rebuilt in the 15th century by a 'Gentleman Farmer' of some means. The next major event was WWII when an AA Gun & Radar site was set up in Kingswood Farm as part of Birminghams southern Air Defenses, Nearby was built a large Prefab estate by German POW's in 1944 called Bells Farm estate, It had some shops and a school, some of which still survives in the present school today ( Sir Theodore Pritchett Primary Sch ). By the early 1960's the area was cleared for a 2 phase municipal Estate, the 1st stage was completed by 1965, Baverstock Estate was built by 1967 and the area had a very rural enviroment. By the early 1970's Bells farm was tenantless and was abandoned until some gypsies moved in, In 1975 a fire broke out partially damaging the Farmhouse, it was then abandoned and fell into ruins very quickly. by 1977 Bells Farm Estate was completed and a school was built next to the reconstructed Farmhouse. Over on Walkers Heath a small development was built virtually urbanizing the area.

Interestingly, On the Prefab estate of Bells Farm, the roads were named after villages in Wiltshire around the Stonehenge Area, Roads like Netheravon, Baverstock, Manningford, Stonehenge--all these names were carried over to the later Municipal Estate.

with reference to the 80k limit for photos on the site, if you try this site,http://www.webresizer.com/ you will be able to downsize your photos to a size that is acceptable by the site, or you can use one of the many photo hosting sites such as the one mentioned by Chris here.

Could I also advise you that it is against the forums policy and rules to link to commercial sites from the forum. The sites I have mentioned here are fine because they have no end product that is for sale.